Posted tagged ‘Gregor Trinkaus-Randall’

I’m back from the very successful Introduction to Library Digitization Conference put on by the MLA’s Technical Services Section (OK, that’s enough self-promotion). We had a great turnout, with a surprisingly diverse audience (still not sure how the University of Vermont even learned we were holding the event), and one of the most well prepared groups of speakers I’ve ever seen at a conference.

I’ll post more later once the presentation slide get uploaded, but in the meantime:

The day started with an excellent (and practical) introduction to the subject by Gregor Trinkaus-Randall.

His presentation was followed by Mary Piorun and Lisa Palmer from the UMass Medical library, who then showed how to apply the lessons gained from the first session to a specific project.

After a nice lunch Andrew Epstein gave an amazingly comprehensive (for an hour long talk) rundown of US copyright law, including how the law is likely to change, thanks to the Orphan Works act. Incidentally I’ll be speaking on the subject on Friday and now have to try my best not to copy his talk (I had my notes done last Thursday, I swear) since there are at least three people who will have been at both events.

Finally, there was a panel discussion featuring Leone E. Cole from the Watertown Library, Kathy Foulke from Connecticut History Online, and Dodie Gaudet, Kristi Chadwick & Jeffrey Monseau from the Digital Treasures project. Honestly, this presentation was a little rough as there was enough information for 3 presentations (more on Digital Treasures Friday) and we ran out of time (sorry Kristi). But the session was still very informative and I thought it did a lot to show how the attendees could start working on their own projects sooner rather than later.

All in all it was a great event, it’s just a shame that it’s started snowing now (it’s only October!).

I spent today at a Disaster Preparedness Workshop run by the great Gregor Trinkaus-Randall of the MBLC. I got more out of the experience than any workshop in recent history, particularly from the opening exercise. Take a group of librarians who don’t know one another and throw them into an unlit room full of a great variety of drenched materials. And here’s the key things I took out of that:

10. When hanging up photographs to dry, always use 2 clothespins per photo.

9. Swiss Army Knives are really really useful to have.

8. Newsprint is surprisingly absorbent.

7. Sometimes taking everything out of the water is not the best plan.

6. Sprinklers can be a book’s best friend.

5. When setting up a clothesline, make sure it’s anchored.

4. Always know where your supplies are.

3. If you’re going to approach a disaster from a calmly assessed perspective, make sure you don’t forget to keep that perspective.

2. Never stick your hand into anything until you know for sure that it’s safe.